Pier to get new food options

Editor‚Äôs note: This story is part of an ongoing series that tracks the city‚Äôs expenditures appearing on upcoming Santa Monica City Council consent agendas. Consent agenda items are routinely passed by the City Council with little or no discussion from elected officials or the public. However, many of the items have been part of public discussion in the past.

CITY HALL ‚Äî Santa Monica Pier patrons will likely be greeted by a range of new food options and some old vending favorites if the City Council chooses to approve a number of new leases at its meeting Tuesday night.

Nine leases for vending carts that have been month-to-month since June 2012 were put up for bid over the summer, attracting 34 interested parties.

The remaining three have leases that expire this June.

An evaluation committee made up of representatives from the Office of Pier Management, Economic Development Division, Santa Monica Pier Corporation and Downtown Santa Monica Inc. whittled those applications down to 13 contenders.

Ultimately, nine were chosen, including six existing tenants and three new food vendors including a currywurst cart, crepe maker and a third that provides local, organic food.

According to the staff report, the leases are expected to bring in at least $106,650 over the course of the year.

The Trolley Kiosk at the east end of the pier, operated by ‚Äò66 to Cali, Inc., will also continue its operations.

Six businesses applied for the spot including an eyebrow threading location and souvenir shop, but the committee decided to stick with the Trolley Kiosk.

The company first set up shop on the pier in 2009 as part of the mobile vending cart program, but moved into the fixed store in 2011. Its lease expired at the end of June, and the store has been month-to-month since.

Its lease will generate at least $11,850 throughout the year, according to the report.

Combined, the leases are expected to raise $118,500, which offsets less than a third of the $628,551 in expenditures the City Council is expected to approve Tuesday.

Tech upgrades

City Hall has plans to turn over 1,450 desktop, laptop and tablet computers within the next four years, and are prepared to pay $1.6 million to do so.

The contract with Hewlett Packard, if approved, will last four years at a cost of $400,000 a year. The machines will replace out-of-date computers that came with a four-year warranty for product replacement and tech support.

The funds come from the Computer Equipment Replacement Program, a six-year-old program that ensures City Hall‚Äôs computers hold up.

Hewlett Packard was one of four companies that bid on the contract.

Only $400,000 of the contract will be paid out this year. Future funding is contingent on City Council approval.

Zoning ordinance

A firm hired in 2004 for extensive planning work relating to the new Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE) and zoning ordinance needs another $84,640 to take on additional tasks relating to parking and circulation.

Dyett & Bhatia, a California-based company, was originally contracted to complete the LUCE, zoning ordinance and associated environmental documents.

That work was expected to cost $1,648,830, roughly a quarter of which went to the zoning ordinance update.

Since, officials have requested two new studies including one of off-street parking and loading and a transportation demand management chapter.

Three teams of consultants bid for the work, but Dyett & Bhatia was chosen through the bidding process. The modification will bring the total contract up to $1,733,470.

Water under the bridge

City officials are recommending an $80,000 contract with a California-based company to monitor water quality at an experimental site that could help determine storm drain design for the entire city.

California Watershed Engineering would take samples of storm water that pass through the project site and analyze them for adherence to bacteria and other contaminant levels set by local authorities.

It‚Äôs a pilot project called the In-line Storm Drain Runoff Infiltration Project. It will retrofit existing catch basins and manholes to capture and purify urban runoff.

It came out of a $300,000 grant from the State Water Resources Control Board. The whole project is expected to cost $400,000, and will be funded by local taxes and Proposition 84, a 2006 measure that authorized $5.4 billion in bonds for water quality projects.

The $80,000 will be reimbursed “as authorized” by the State Water Control Board, according to the city staff report.

Car papers

The Public Works Department is in the market for a new, zero-emissions stakebed truck used for trash collection.

The vehicle, which is used with cart service for trash collection at single family and apartment complexes, will be purchased from ZeroTruck, one of four companies that bid.

ZeroTruck was the only company that offered an electric vehicle rather than compressed natural gas, lowering the overall cost by $136,500 because of a grant through the California Energy Commission.